This is Climate to Action, a CSUSM student podcast.
I'm your host, Molly Saruwatari. And I'm Saturn
Salama, the Climate to Action podcast team manager.
We're here to amplify voices, explore solutions
to the climate crisis, and to address climate
injustices for all living things. We are committed
to incorporating discussions on climate justice
and indigenous knowledge to address the climate
crisis and to providing a call to action in every
episode. Today, we are podcasting from Coastal
Roads Farms in Encinitas as part of this first
San Diego Climate Week. Usually, we start each
episode of the podcast with a land acknowledgement
from our campus. California State University
San Marcos. Since there are 18 federally recognized
tribes in the San Diego County, we'd like to
acknowledge all the tribes, ancestors, and traditional
knowledge keepers and original stewards of the
land here in San Diego County. I invite us all
to pause and recognize that we gather today on
the unceded territory of the Kumeyaay Nation.
Along with the Kumeyaay peoples, we also honor
the Luiseno Payocoichan peoples. Today's episode
is focused all about San Diego Climate Week and
some of the amazing women who put it together.
We are here live with Erika Rodriguez. Welcome,
Erika. Thank you for having me. Erika, first,
can you tell us a little bit about how you first
became aware of the climate crisis and what made
you want to take action? Yes. So it started when
I was in university as well. I went to University
of San Diego. This was back in 2012. I got a
chance to study abroad. So I went to Australia,
studied in Sydney. And then after that, I went
to I actually had a month. So I volunteered at
an orphanage in Fiji. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. So I
stayed there a month. It ended up being a little
short of a month because I got caught in a category
four cyclone. That was my first ever. real, I
would say, natural disaster experience. I am
born and raised in California. So we had earthquakes.
And as you guys know, I don't know if you've
ever experienced an earthquake here. OK, you
know, a couple seconds underneath the table or,
you know, you're checking everyone's safe. You
have an evacuation plan as well as wildfires.
Thankfully, with where I'm from, which is Bielton
or San Ynez Valley, we never actually really.
experience a severe fire thankfully and so never
really had to evacuate or do any of that um which
you have you also have a plan and everything
so uh got caught in a category four cyclone um
that was cyclone evan in 2012 and um from there
it was like It was 24 hours of terror. The strongest
part of a cyclone is called the eye. And that
was coming right through Nandi. And so just never
experienced such a powerful natural disaster
before. That really just shook my core. So, yeah,
I would say going through that and just actually
not even having any discussions about climate
change like within my family or even. in school.
I'm not sustained, like I didn't graduate with
sustainability or anything. I graduated with
marketing and international business, nonprofit
management, really focused on just trying to
make impact with my work. And going through that
really changed my whole trajectory in life, learning
about climate change, learning how people come
together after a natural disaster as well, and
how the media also covers it. You'll hear little
blips of, you know, unfortunately how many deaths,
maybe just like the injured or like anything
like that. Then another news story hits up and
we don't listen or we don't get any updates on
the community. And so going through a natural
disaster like that, too, really taught me about
climate change. It's here. And that was back
in 2012. Unfortunately, with Fiji, too, it was.
more cyclones have occurred and more powerful
ones. At the time, I experienced the most powerful
cyclone ever recorded in Fiji at that time in
2012. And so more cyclones frequently and more
powerful ones have gone through. So it just taught
me so much about climate change, going through
that. And that's my climate action story. That's
insane. How did all that from the Cyclone and
everything, how did it lead you to actually organizing
San Diego's Climate Week? Yeah, so many steps.
After the Cyclone, I really just wanted my work
to be meaningful. I actually went into corporate,
more in the transportation space of different
ways to look at transportation than just a single
-use car. And then from there... I would say
it was more of just like a calling for me. Obviously,
with the Trump administration, it was really
such a, I almost thought I was going to move
out of the US because I was just feeling really
down and really powerless, I would say. And especially
with my individual actions of what I can do at
the federal level. And so really focusing on
like, what can I do if it's so chaotic and like
obviously climate was not the environment wasn't
a priority for this administration and we were
seeing it with so many things like rolling back
things were getting attacked and like defunded
and everything it was like what can i do locally
in my own community here and i just have built
i have a marketing agency it's a sustainable
marketing agency and i've built such a community
here in san diego that i just rooted in What
can we do hyperlocal? And what can I do with
my community around me, around sustainability?
And obviously Climate Week, it's not a new thing.
It's in other cities like New York and L .A.,
SF. And so I just took that example. And with
my marketing eye, it was like it just made sense.
If you really drive like traffic as far as like
a week of different events, different topics
and categories and get people educated and like.
go for one call to action, or even just have
people speak that they don't get to speak on
and give them the stage, then it was like, then
we can build power. We can build momentum. And
with that, the whole point of Climate Week, it's
like, hopefully this is not just the week. Hopefully
it's a ripple effect that's all year long. But
from there, just really rooted in my community
and ask people like, do you want to bring Climate
Week to San Diego? And I did that with a Google
form. Oh, wow. Nice. How would you describe the
mission of San Diego Climate Week in one sentence,
maybe? And why does San Diego in particular need
an event like this right now? Yeah, so one sentence,
you're challenging me here, but really to create
space to educate people, to have people collaborate,
and to help them, I would say, be purposeful
in action. based um trying to give them that's
another sentence but then just trying to give
them the opportunities to also if they're in
the non -profit space or if they are experiencing
um or they have the experience um around climate
just giving them the mic so they can also explain
to us and we can all collaborate and be inspired
by one another Absolutely. And San Diego is great
because it's very diverse. You have areas such
as like you have like El Cajon in the Imperial
Valley and then you have like North County San
Diego where we're at currently and you have closer
to downtown, you know, and of course you have
such a wide military population and with all
those different like factors and everything like
what has gone into planning this first climate
week, you know, from forming your team to finding
partners and then of course choosing the events
we see on the calendar as well. Yeah, I would
say. So with my planning committee, I mean, and
really focusing on like why, like you said, why
does San Diego need it right now? We are facing
climate change with the floods, with the fires.
You see people already displaced from the floods
that happened last year still, and they're just
waiting. With my planning committee, we really
wanted to focus on what. How can we be grassroots?
How can we bring environmental justice at the
forefront? And how can we make it that there's
no barrier for anyone to come to a Climate Week
event? If you're not aware with Climate Weeks,
They're great. They've been started in other
cities, like I mentioned before, but they're
very expensive to be a part of, to create your
own event, to attend. And right now, for some
of them, I can't even attend them as a business
owner, entrepreneur, like they're even above
my budgets to go to the events and to experience.
So it was more of like, how can we bring it at
such a level that anyone can be involved with
Climate Week? And then to your point, Molly,
that you mentioned, we really wanted to focus
on. How can we activate in each region? Because
obviously central region gets a lot of love.
North County does as well. We love our North
County that we're here today. But like yesterday,
we were in East Region and we were in El Cajon.
And then before that, we were also at the Tijuana
River Estuary in Imperial. beach because they
don't get the love yeah they they don't also
get like the stage and everything so we wanted
to activate in every region in san diego and
bring people um together so if they couldn't
travel to here they could hopefully activate
in the space that we have that event or that
we're also encouraging other event hosts to have
their events there because for our event hosts
and organizers it's free And we're hoping that
it's going to always be free to host an event
during Climate Week. Yeah, I know that we really
appreciated it being free as college students,
Marcy and I. Oh, yeah. It was wonderful. What's
been the toughest part of organizing so far?
And maybe what are some lessons you would share
with students or young leaders trying to start
something similar to a San Diego Climate Week
or just take their own climate actions? Number
one would be funding. Obviously, if you want
to bring everyone together and have these beautiful
spaces and have, I mean, we have food and drinks,
we have... mics we have sound systems and projectors
and movies and like there's so much that there's
just a lot of startup costs and then as well
as like our branding and everything I knew that
there was going to be a big budget for this so
I would say funding and I would say the first
part that was hard was inviting people to come
to climate week in san diego but also i would
say investing in us because it is the first year
um so a lot of people just didn't know how it
would look like and like who would come to these
events and like today like we're gonna be having
like 250 people here um so people want to come
to these events and so i would say the hardest
part would be like the funding getting everything
ready but then um also putting like some metrics
in place that then we can show like this is this
is our impact. This is like we brought people
together. And so I would say for students, if
there's any way to like just show and think of
it prior of like what is the impact you're creating,
if you can show people that and that that's going
to be like a repeat event or anything. I don't
know if it's a project they're working on or
like an event, just showing those kind of stakeholders
that this is your goals. This is how you're going
to get there. And then also I love. following
up with everyone and just letting them know too
like here's all the updates and this is what
we accomplish and going through there and and
saying that is going to be a reoccurring event
because we're hoping this is going to be annual
for San Diego absolutely I hope it does too I've
like like I said I've never been in the water
conservation garden and it was so amazing actually
getting to see it in person and then today I've
never been here as well at Coastal Roots Farms
and it's maybe a 20 minute drive for me and it's
so pretty and I saw they have like a little children's
play area as I was driving in and there's all
these kids playing with their family and it's
like outside so I really hope that this is an
annual thing because I will absolutely try to
come like every single day because I love this.
It's absolutely wonderful. We're in a barn. I'm
having the time of my life. Right. The music
in the background. It's so good. I had a little
charcuterie board. There we go. They have no
plastic. Exactly. Compost. Yeah. Enjoying the
land and just coming to. you know, an event like
this and meeting aligned people, people that
also want to connect. Absolutely. I'm kind of
speaking on that with people who want to connect.
Yesterday, we learned a lot about traditional
indigenous knowledge and traditional ecological
knowledge and how they connect with the land.
Climate change actually does affect many different
communities differently, as you know. How are
you making sure that all of their voices from
all the diverse different communities we have
here in San Diego are being heard and their perspectives
are being seen and included within the week's
programming and leadership? So first it is that
our planning committee is organizing the four
events that I mentioned, one in each region.
So we're trying to invite as many voices as possible.
to those panels like you mentioned that you went
to yesterday and then as well making it no barrier
to come to an event so even one of our guidelines
too for climate week was even if you had a paid
event we're encouraging free events but of course
we know with an event organizer you know if you're
having a venue or if you're having food you know
you might have to have it paid And so we're asking
for community tickets as well. So anyone could
come to them that expresses that they want to
come to an event like that. And then also it
would be that event organizers, like I mentioned,
it's free to host an event. So I'm hoping as
well, even next year, we get more events, but
more events also in the regions that we didn't
get to hear as well, encouraging them to share
their experience and share the expertise because
we want to hear from you. If you're listening,
Climate Week is always going to happen. San Diego
Climate Week is always going to happen October
1st through the 8th. And we would love to have
you host an event or contact us and we'll plug
you in on how to get involved because everyone
should be able to get involved. So what would
success look like for this first San Diego Climate
Week? Not just in numbers, but in lasting impact.
That's a great question. question um i would
say so yeah i i we got a hundred plus events
for the first year and that was one of our goals
as far as just showing the impact and the reach
that we have but i wouldn't say that's like our
number one goal our number one goal is to create
action and what does that look like within a
week thankfully we got connected to the city
of san diego and they were at our kickoff event
they actually gave us a proclamation too which
was huge it showed the the acknowledgement of
our climate work and then that relationship.
So even with my marketing agency, it's all around
relationships and partnership building because
that's how we're going to come together to solve
this climate crisis is not individual actions.
It's coming together. It's bringing people together.
So with the city developing that relationship
and also they have invited us to do like working
circles or to like partner with them. not just
during climate week, but also all year long.
And so even with that, it's like that creates
invitation to other people that might not have
got that chance or might have not even learned
that they do these kind of things as well. So
presenting those opportunities, I would say.
And then I have lots of goals, but the other
goal too is bringing attention. to the Tijuana
River crisis going on right now. So that's why
we had a whole event with our South Region event
of call to actions and to know that you still
have power within your voice to call your representatives
and to tell them that this is a crisis. People
are getting sick from being in the ocean. They
can't even go to the beach. It's been closed
for such a long time. and that water now there's
fecal matter in the air and people are getting
sick so that's what we learned about um and it
was yeah it just like shook me to my core that
was like just because where you live and like
you can't people can't move out of there that
now they're getting sick and so just bringing
attention to that because even a lot of San Diegans
don't know about that that that's happening only
if you're in central that's only happening 15
-20 minutes away from you And it's just going
to get worse. So bringing attention to that and
knowing that you can call your representative
right now and you can bring attention to it.
Because if we all do it, that's going to turn
some heads. Yeah, I love that. Giving the power
back to individuals and back to the people and
making sure people know that their voice, well,
it may seem like, because I know a lot of people
have that mentality of, oh, I'm just one person.
What good is that going to do? But in reality,
one voice is all it takes to start a whole movement
is all it takes. you know to our listeners be
that one voice make sure that you know you start
it even if you feel like i'm just one person
just let it go like do do what you need to do
and do what you feel is right because at the
end of the day one voice can make all the difference
i completely agree yeah and just having those
conversations i feel like too people keep it
in so much and like just because this administration
and like just everything going around it was
really dark for me so i was just like Now that
I can like talk to people about it and be in
community, it was like, let's do climate week.
Like, let's do it. And so it was like, it's you
can probably talk to all my volunteers. Hopefully
you guys do feel this way. It's just like this
is like the light. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.
Which is perfect because a lot of our listeners,
as I kind of mentioned before the show, are CSUSM
students or like students in this area. And maybe
a lot of them don't know how they can actually
help or put their foot forward. So what are some,
let's like advice, what are some ways that they
can plug in either during climate, the next climate
week itself or any climate work that follows
when it comes to like volunteering or with the
Tijuana River Valley, anything like that? Yeah,
I would say don't wait until the next climate
week, like email us and like, let's do stuff
together. I don't know what that is, because
after climate week, I'm going to take a little
break. But what is that afterwards? Are we going
to have other events after climate week? I'm
open to any conversations. I love having interns,
too, that want to work on like the next climate
week because we want to make this bigger, obviously.
So it's going to take a lot of planning. This
only happened, I think, five. We started in.
i did my form in february we started actually
meeting in may oh my goodness wow this was such
a short time just imagine how we have like a
whole year to plan the next time that week like
i want so many people involved too so like reach
out to us email us uh instagram us or i'm not
on tiktok yet but like we're gonna get on tiktok
and if anyone wants to take that over and like
social media marketing people um sustainability
people anyone anyone that wants to get involved
i would say reach out to us and like let Let's
find a way to collaborate. If everything goes
the way you hope, what do you imagine San Diego
will look like in five or ten years because of
the momentum built by Climate Week? That's a
great question. Five to ten years. Honestly,
the goal is probably not to have a Climate Week.
Right, yeah. You know, I know some businesses,
some sustainable businesses are that way. We're
in business because we don't like in the end,
our goal is like to not be in business. I would
love to like not have a climate week because
it should be all year long that we're focusing
on it. Honestly, I don't know if we'll get there
in five or 10 years, but I guess with San Diego,
it's more of just like. That's such a great question.
I was going to say, like, I'd love to have this
as a destination. So people are coming here.
But I already know people have come here from
LA. We heard from Chicago. We heard from other
people that flew in to come to our events. So
we have people traveling in the first year. That's
amazing. But I would say, yeah, I don't know.
That's such a hard question. So we actually,
one thing that we're doing, just because, like
I said, we put this together real quick. was
we're working with a consulting group and so
they're building us a five -year plan right now
of just like how would this grow and like what
do we want to see in the future so that's definitely
something in our debrief that we're going to
be working on and so also it's good to tell you
guys as well it's like this is a work in progress
we're not perfect or anything sustainability
is not perfect so we're we love feedback I would
say so if you guys have any feedback too on what
that could look like but i would think that maybe
with climate week if we focus on one topic like
the tijuana river right now we would actually
build momentum move that needle and it would
be something that like we are just a big voice
that happens every year for san diego That's
amazing. Thank you so much. And truly, Erica,
thank you so much for joining us on our podcast
today. You've been an absolutely amazing guest
and so very insightful into what our listeners
can do to take their next steps forward and the
important missions that San Diego Climate Week
has actually brought and brought to the attention
of a lot of people who maybe haven't known about
these issues. Wonderful. Thank you so much, Molly
and Saturn. Appreciate it. Want to hear more
from Climate to Action, a CSUSM student podcast?
Be sure to check us out wherever you get your
podcasts and follow us on our socials at Climate
to Action. That's at Climate to Action on Instagram
and Climate number two action on TikTok. We'll
be posting updates, behind the scenes content
and more. Until next time, this is Saturn. And
this is Molly. From Climate to Action, signing
off. This episode of Climate to Action was recorded
at Coastal Roots Farm in Encinitas as part of
the first San Diego Climate Week. Climate to
Action is supported in part by a generous gift
from the Rosemary Kramer Ray Foundation.